Petra

I think I saw those guys at the Warped Tour. I wasn't especially impressed, IIRC. All these screaming bands sound pretty much the same to me, anyway... the only one I really like is Alexisonfire.

Six forward cogs, and it can't average 20 MPG? Pretty weak, IMO.

I'll reserve judgement until I see more pictures... specifically, pictures of the interior. I know I'm in the minority here, but I never thought the exterior styling of the Aura was particularily invigorating, especially from the rear. That interior, though... what a knockout! So long as that makes it to production, they could paste an Aztek snout on the Aura for all I care. It's what's inside that counts.

If you must have an American car that fits your specifications, well... you really don't have a lot of options. Other than a used GM B-Body or a Ford Panther, I can't think of anything. I say: The Q45, despite being Japanese, is about the least "evil" Japanese car around. Live with it for a little while until the new Camaro rolls around. Also, in the case of an unforeseen occurance, you wouldn't have as large a debt as you would buying a brand-new Cobalt. Don't stretch your resources too thinly. On a slightly unrelated topic, what kind of mileage have you been getting out of your Q-Ship (post O2 Sensor repairs, obviously). My Mercury fluctuates between 22 and 23 MPG right now on mostly freeway driving (@ 70-ish MPH).

More than anything else, this review drives home how much higher the standards have come in the last ten years. Whereas, back then, the Yaris would've been a hit, it is an "Average" car today... and for crummy cupholders and storage bins! Having said that, I think Toyota expects the Yaris to fail, or at least, do poorly. It seems from this review like they did the car pretty half-assed. Plus, it will start to look really dated once the next generation SCIONs come out, which is what Toyota really wants consumers to buy, anway.

Older Hyundais. The last two rental cars I've seen were an Accent and an Elantra. They were both from Enterprise, BTW.

I've never heard of that guitar before... got any pictures? I think I've mentioned this previously, but I play the electric guitar, too. Mine is an Ibanez Jet King 1. Right now, my Amp is getting fixed (I left the cable plugged in and my dad tripped over it, ripping out the input jack), so I haven't played much in the last month... Not that I was any good before then.

A signifigant improvement; it looks more in line with the Nitro. I approve! ..Huh?

I'm no fan of the ES, but I've got to hand it to Toyota/Lexus for so masterfully pulling the wool over so many consumers eyes over the last 15 or so years. The ES is the perfect example of when badge engineering goes very, very right.

When do Q1 results come in? I'm more than a little curious to see how much GM has lost so far this year, and wether the cost-cutting measures have had any effect yet.

Awwwwwww... can't I have both?

P.S: You know I'm just kiddin'!

Not to take away from your points or anything, but I laughed like crazy when I read that.

Scroll down to "The Boss Isn't Pleased": http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...23007/1048/FREE

That's what I thought, too. It looks to be about as wide as the Chrysler 300. While I'm not really the biggest fan of the "Art & Science" thing, this new model is exciting for what it is. And that's good enough for me!

Okay, let's say that the board of directors decides to fire Rick Wagoner sometime in the near future. The question now is: Who takes his place? This is a question that I have been pondering over for the last few weeks. Some members of this forum seem to be hell-bent on seeing Wagoner get the boot, regardless of what the fallout would be. Others feel that Wagoner is doing as good a job as possible given the circumstances, and should not be fired at all. Still others (myself included) think that, while change at the top would be beneficial, there isn't much point in firing Wagoner if he would be replaced by another equally inneffective, GM-enculturated administrator; the new CEO must be in the mould of Carlos Ghosn or Lee Iacocca, capable of creating real, sweeping changes and bringing GM back from the brink... and in a timely manner, too. So, here's a thread for all of us armchair CEOs to nominate who we think would be the best person to replace Wagoner, and why that person would be the best. If you don't have any particular individual in mind, feel free to talk about what qualities and traits you think a future GM CEO must have. Even if you think Wagoner shouldn't be fired, go ahead and chime in. Consider this a chance to do something somewhat productive, rather than whining all day about who's ideas are right and wrong. Go to it!

Excellent synopsis there, wildmanjoe. I agree that we should move on from the name-calling and try harder to address the real issues here. You've got the right idea here, but the trouble is, image isn't easy to change. It isn't something that can change overnight; it takes years to build a reputation (or lose it). Right now, GM simply does not have the time or the money to invest in changing their image through marketing (i.e: polishing turds). That money could be better spent (IMO) by building products that the customers will want, which, in turn, will slowly begin to build up brand equity and change image. Unfortunately, it's looking like GM might not have the time or money to do this right now, either. For the record, while I agree that some change at the top needs to take place at GM, but, frankly, I don't see what removing Rick Wagoner would really accomplish... especially if the person taking his place was another equally inneffective individual brought up in the GM culture. I look forward to any future suggestions from anyone on who would be a successful candidate for the position of GM CEO.

IIRC, Magna is the company that belongs to Belinda Stronach's daddy, right? I said once before the last time this all came up that this is the biggest game of Chicken ever played out by GM. Either someone (the UAW, Delphi or GM) will cave, or everything will be destroyed. Personally, I'm not too optimistic that anybody will cave. The UAW and Delphi seem determined to go down with the ship before making concessions, and GM just doesn't have the guts to tell them all to get lost. That means there's only one thing that can come of this...

Without improved product, selling more cars will end in futility. GM has been trying to polish turds and pawn them off to customers for thirty years now. It worked for a little while, until people caught on that the s**t still stank and ran away. And they've been running away ever since. Build the product, and the customers will come. Look at examples such as the Chrysler 300, the HUMMER H2, the Mustang... pretty much the entire Cadillac lineup! Even the Toyota Camry is an example of building what the customer wants (a high-quality, innoffensive midsize sedan) and having the customers flock to it. Why GM didn't realize this 10 or 20 years ago is beyond me (and this is not a recent problem, so don't try and pin it on Wagoner), and it seems that with each passing day, it may be too late for GM to build anything at all anymore. P.S: Seems to me that selling cars over the Internet would be a great way to get more sales with less expense, no? As a car dealer you may not want to hear it, but e-commerce is the future, and Amazon & eBay are only the beginning.

...Because heaven forbid a corporation in a Capitalistic society should do something that would increase their profits, while simultaneously benefiting their customers! No, we can't have that, can we? Speaking of profits: I'm sure, if given the chance, you could go out there and increase sales by, let's say, 10%. But at what cost? How low would you have to go in pricing to be able to sell that many cars? And, if GM has to sell cars so cheaply that they cannot make a profit, how does that help GM? Heck, they already sell some models for a loss... the only thing keeping their automotive operations from going totally tits-up are those big, juicy, high profit margin SUVs. What GM needs is to get more from fewer sales, not less from more sales!

That is likely owing to the massive amount of torque available at idle from the electric motors, one of a few things I like about Hybrids. If only somebody would make a RWD one...

Pretty tempting price. At $25,900, it's square in the middle of the SE V6 and XLE V6 base prices. However, if faced with the gruesome spectre of buying a Camry, I'd say the XLE i4, @ $24,425 with all the luxury features, is a better deal. Assuming the Camry Hybird falls short 25% like the Prius does (based on real-world reports of 42 MPG vs. 60 MPG EPA rating), the Camry Hybird will deliver just over 29 MPG in real-world driving. i4 Automatic models like the 4-cyl. XLE will deliver an EPA average of 29 MPG (rounded up from 28.5). Assuming a 15% decrease, you could expect to see real-world mileage of 25 MPG (rounded up from 24.72). I'd say that the $1,575 dollars you'd save buying an XLE instead of a Hybrid will go a long way towards buying extra gas to make up for that 4 MPG discrepancy. And, let's face it, if you can make do without all the goodies that the XLE and Hybrid models pack, you'd have a lot more money than that to put into the gas fund. Again, I will also state that I do not believe that the Camry Hybrid will attract new buyers. Rather, it will attract loyal Camry owners who are caught up in the Hybrid hype. Just my :twocents:

Werd! IMO, the Commander should have come out 5 years ago. Jeep spent too much time debating about wether they should build a Soccer Mom SUV or keep their rugged reputation that they totally missed the SUV boat. Plus, when they finally did decide to build the Commander, they did it pretty half-assed. Not only did it come at the wrong time, but it's the wrong car, too.

I'm betting that the vast majority of those unwanted SUVs are equipped with the lame 3.7L. V6 and the 4.7L. V8, which, while a good performer, has been totally overshadowed by the HEMI. I had a feeling right from the beginning that the Commander was going to bomb, but, so as not to enrage the resident Pentastar fans, I'll leave it at that.

Now there's an Oxymoron! I'm surprised anybody buys these anymore, other than the Hybrid version. The Highlander is getting pretty seriously long in the tooth. It's been around with only a couple of revisions (that you'd have to squint to see, save for the third row seat) since MY 2001. The GMC Envoy/Chevy TrailBlazer have been on the market since MY 2002, and it seems like they are constantly harped on about being old and out of date. Then again, the Highlander debuted as a great SUV and has gradually become an also-ran, whereas the GM twins started off as mediocre SUVs with a few bright spots, and have become hideously uncompetitive SUVs with a few kinda bright spots.